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Features, Reviews, Interviews, et cetera
Features, Reviews, Interviews, et cetera
"Infernal Machines stands defiant, updating the big band tradition for the new millennium while presenting exciting possibilities for the future."
— Troy Collins, All About Jazz
"[A] wonderful combination of sounds, styles, moods and messages"
— Richard Kamins, Hartford Courant
"Infernal Machines, however, lives up to the buzz, featuring writing and performing that catapults Argue's group into the ranks of jazz's best contemporary large ensembles... masterfully blends thrilling, innovative rock elements with sounds that remind one that he's running a big band after all."
— Peter Hum, Ottawa Citizen
"This is music with heart, wit and sophistication, the beginning of what could and should be a brilliant artistic career for Argue."
— Mike Chamberlain, Hour
"[T]his is a seriously great record, one of the finest examples of new jazz I’ve heard in the past decade, one of the finest big band records ever made, one of the finest jazz records I’ve truly ever heard."
— George Grella, The Big City
"Among the young turks, Darcy James Argue has the most heat."
— Trevor Hunter, NewMusicBox
"An exciting stylist with an abundance of ideas, Argue deserves his place alongside Schneider, Hollenbeck and other contemporary big band arrangers who are looking beyond traditional notions of what a large jazz orchestra should, and can, sound like."
— James Hale, Jazz Chronicles
"Like a rock band, the Secret Society delights in big, assertive ideas. Yet this rugged let-it-rip aesthetic is beefed up by a rich harmonic palette [...]. This is fresh and non-derivative work, and justifies the intense buzz surrounding this bandleader's debut release."
— Ted Gioia, Jazz.com
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What people are saying about Darcy James Argue
"[One of the] bandleaders, musicians, and bands in jazz who have come along in the last 10-some years who might well be important in 50 years."
Q&A with Ben Ratliff, New York Times
"No swing-era revivalist, Argue draws on the full spectrum of modern rock, jazz and classical music with his band, Secret Society. Yet his complex, emotionally charged pieces handily transcend pastiche."
—Hank Shteamer, Time Out New York
"Clearly some of the most ambitious and compelling sounds I’ve ever encountered in the past 40 years."
— Juan Rodriguez, Montreal Gazette
"The music was full of large-scale, intricate designs [...] built on some of the best lessons of Charles Mingus and Bob Brookmeyer, not only in harmony and structure but also in momentum, in moving a piece forward. [...]. A big, broad musical vocabulary came together easily, without jump-cutting or wrenching shifts of style. Mr. Argue made all these elements belong together naturally."
— Ben Ratliff, New York Times.
"The highlight of the evening was Secret Society, an all-star 18-piece big band led by composer/conductor Darcy James Argue. Mixing minimalism, indie rock, contemporary classical and jazz styles, Argue has developed his own thing — a fat, hard-hitting sound with wide dynamic contrasts, unusual chord clusters, asymmetric time signatures and monster riffs."
— Tom Greenland, All About Jazz
"Inspiring."
— Ethan Iverson, pianist, The Bad Plus
"It was like hearing Duke Ellington and minimalism and Tortoise and Funkadelic and Elliott Carter and much else besides melding into one floating, shifting, dodging music."
— Carl Wilson, author & critic.
"Lucky for us, there's always been a handful of artists willing to tilt at windmills, intoxicated by a large ensemble's broad palette and dynamic heft. The latest leader to create a stir downtown is Darcy James Argue."
— Steve Smith, Time Out New York
"When you listen to the music you are transported to a sinister yet beautiful world, a past that never was."
— Magpie Killjoy, Steampunk magazine
"Darcy James Argue has developed an experimental yet accessible voice as a composer. His gifts are outstanding."
— Bob Brookmeyer, composer
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